WEBVTT - The Catacombs of Paris 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:07.720 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:13.680 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, and 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:18.280 there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, and we are going deep 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:23.600 underneath the City of Perry, City of Lights, City too 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:27.480 busy to sleep because it eats big apples in this 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:28.760 episode of Stuff You Should Know. 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:33.360 That's right, big thanks to Anna for the contribution here 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:38.000 on the Paris Catacombs. Have you ever toured the Paris Catacombs? 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:38.680 Yes? I have? 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:41.520 Have you I have not, and I think I remember 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:43.320 you telling me that you had. I've been to Paris 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.600 three times, have not yet done this. It was not 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:48.800 on my radar the first two, didn't have time the 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.559 third trip. So if and when I ever get back 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:53.920 to Paris, it's on the list I recommend. 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:55.960 Have you ever been to the Mulin Rouge? 0:00:57.720 --> 0:00:57.960 Yes? 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:02.280 Okay, so the Mulan Ruge is generally topless dance numbers 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:06.240 typically right, Yeah, did you notice that when you're at 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:09.919 the Mulan Rouge, boobs just there were so many boobs 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:13.080 everywhere that they just totally lost all context and meaning. 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:16.279 Yeah, twelve year old Chuck was like, I don't understand what's. 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:19.160 Happening, right, But I'll bet even twelve year old Chuck 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:20.920 was like yawning by the end of it, right, because 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:23.679 there's just so many boobs everywhere that they're just it 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:29.040 doesn't doesn't mean anything anymore. The catacombs are the Mulan 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:31.000 Rouge of human bones. 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:35.400 Oh, so many skulls that it's just like whatever, there's 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:36.000 another skull. 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:39.480 Yeah. Yeah, it's bizarre because you realize you're just like, 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:42.640 ho hum, there's another dead body. There's another dead body, 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:46.679 there's another leg bone. But it's still worth going to 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:50.320 just because it's so bizarre. But there's just so many 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.280 human bones around you that you just it's like your 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:57.080 brain just gets saturated and you just stop thinking of 0:01:57.120 --> 0:01:57.800 them like that. 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:02.680 So the JSA, the Josh SAT would be Mulin Rouge 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:05.880 is to boobs, as the Paris Catacombs is to blank 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:07.280 human bones. 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:10.560 Yeah, that'd be the right answer choice A. What would 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:11.480 be the other choices? 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:12.440 Oh? 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:14.520 Man, I don't know. I haven't taken a test like 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:15.840 that in so long. I'd hope you have been to 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:16.880 take the SAT again. 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:19.079 What it I think? 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:19.240 So? 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.480 Okay, how long does that take? 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:26.160 I don't know, but it's changed since we were there hours? 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:28.919 I remember it taking hours. It used to actually test 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:31.080 IQ and now it just tests like retention. 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:33.360 Oh well, I'm screwed. 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:41.120 So here's the other answers. Chuck cod fishing, Yeah, modge podge. 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:45.280 And there's got to be one close one like like 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:49.000 like gravesite or something. Okay, there you go and you'd 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:50.560 be like, no, no, grave wax. 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:52.200 Do you remember that from back in the day. 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:55.720 Is that the human goop that seeps out that you 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:56.480 can make soap out of? 0:02:57.200 --> 0:02:57.600 Yeah? 0:02:58.040 --> 0:02:58.720 Pretty awesome. 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:02.400 All right, that's a that's a great j Sat. We 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:04.480 should have our own stuff. You should know, Sat. That'd 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:05.480 be a fun thing to design. 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:08.399 I have, It would be fun. I have one more 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.680 story about the catacombs, let's hear it. So when we went, 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:13.799 I've only been once, uh and it was a few 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:18.000 years back. But we went with my brother in law 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.480 and sister in law and our niece, a very famous 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:25.720 Mila who's been in the movies. She played young Mary 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:28.200 in the movie Mary that came out on Netflix this 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:30.360 past Christmas. Did you know that? No? 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:31.040 And you didn't. 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:33.160 You didn't shout that one out, So I'm glad you are. 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.040 Well. We were off so I didn't get a chance to, 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:40.880 but it's it's definitely worth watching. It's like pretty religious movie. 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:43.600 I mean it's about Mary the mother Mary Mary. Yeah, 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:47.600 yeah that Mary. You're like, ah Mary Mary, Sure. And 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:52.000 it is fascinating, like my actually my brother in law 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:55.800 also was a producer on it too, and they it 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:59.520 has like action, it has like it's a thriller. It 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.800 has like a really evil villain played by Anthony Hopkins. 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.600 Like it's just a really good movie that you'll watch 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:08.520 from beginning to end. Be like, this is pretty good. 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:10.040 I have to check it out. 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:12.920 And I'm also going to forgive you for when I said, Mary, Mary, 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:13.960 for not saying. 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:18.760 Why you bugging thank you? 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:20.440 You passed. You're back in the good graces. 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:23.239 Well anyway, Oh back to my story. So little Mila, 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:27.080 she must have been fivesh at the time, she went 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:29.640 to the catacombs with us, right, so she's walking around 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:35.080 this ossiery with bones and human skulls everywhere, and you 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:37.560 me or I asked her, like, are are you scared 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:41.920 right now? And she said, I boobs right, she right, 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:45.839 she said I would be if these were real. We're like, 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.719 we just looked at each other out of the corners 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:50.880 of our eyes, and we were like, well, let's look 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:53.040 over here now, right exactly. 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:55.279 Yeah, Wow, that's adorable. 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:58.200 It was very adorable. What's funny is the irony of 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:00.240 the whole thing is this is the same kid had 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:03.640 about the same age, who was scared to death on 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:07.240 the movie ride at Disney Hollywood Studios, but is standing 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:10.840 there in the ossiary right, millions of bones, human bones 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:11.560 and skulls, and. 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.559 Is like, yeah, that's pretty funny. 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.320 Yeah. So those are all my stories about the Catacombs. 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:19.200 I figured we should probably start talking about it. 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.440 Yeah, so this is I mean, let's go back in time, 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:24.920 I guess. I mean we know already what it is. 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:29.320 It's a series of underground tunnels where more than six 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:36.480 million Parisians are are there, you know, forever. What's crazy 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:38.640 they decided to move them again, right. 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:41.280 Right, But you have no idea who's who, Like one 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:44.159 bone doesn't belong to another bone, no idea whose skull 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:45.279 is who? It's crazy. 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:47.080 Yeah. Yeah. 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:50.520 So if you go back in time, let's say forty 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:54.360 five million years during the Lutesian period, there was an 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:58.000 erosion event that caused a lot of what became to 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:03.960 be known as Lutesian or Paris rock or Paris limestone 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:08.560 or Parisian limestone deposited there, and that is if you 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:11.680 go to Paris and you see everything as a sort 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.520 of creamy gray, that's what that is. And that's what 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:18.599 gives Paris its distinct look because they had loads and 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:21.320 loads and loads of it. And the reason we're starting 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:25.520 with this is because the mining of that Lutetian limestone 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:29.800 is where these tunnels started, about two thousand years ago, 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:32.719 on the banks of the rivers. There they had these 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:36.440 quarries where they would mine the heck out of this stuff, 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:40.000 and before you know it, Paris is sitting on top 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:42.599 of a vast network of tunnels. 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:47.440 Yeah, something like thirty two square kilometers of tunnels, which, 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:53.320 to put in American terms, is like a lot of bananas. Yes, 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:59.080 ten times the size of Central Park apparently is underneath Paris. Yeah, 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:02.480 I think it's three hundred kilometers of tunnels. Isn't that 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:03.320 just nuts? 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:04.200 It's a lot. 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:05.920 But I mean, if you think about it, if you 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.880 mine an area, a small, relatively small area, for a 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:13.400 couple thousand years, you're gonna you're gonna make some headway eventually. 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:17.000 And that's what they did. The key is this chuck. Originally, 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:22.480 these quarries were sensibly well outside of the city of Paris. Yeah, 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:25.520 but we're talking about a very very tiny original city 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.440 of Paris that eventually grew and grew and grew, and 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:33.440 over time Paris overtook these old quarries that in most 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:36.520 cases were no longer used or mined any longer. So 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:40.880 the city built itself over abandoned mines that people had 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:42.520 just plumb forgotten about. 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.200 That's right, and that you know, that presents a couple 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:47.480 of very big problems. First of all, if you've got 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:49.880 a city growing and growing and getting built on and 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.640 built on and getting heavier and heavier, and a lot 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:55.720 of the underground has been dug out, that is a problem. 0:07:55.760 --> 0:08:03.240 And there were numerous incidents of sinkholes, of buildings collapsing 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:07.600 into themselves, of all kinds of you know, tragedies happening 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:10.320 over the years throughout the history of Paris because it 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:13.240 was built on, you know, hollow ground in a lot 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:13.800 of places. 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:17.080 Right. That's why another very famous nickname for Paris is 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:18.520 the Florida of Europe. 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.960 Right, I'm sure they love that. 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:26.720 The other big problem is that Parisians used to love 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:30.840 burying themselves in Paris, like you wanted to be laid 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:33.680 to rest in the city where you grew up and lived. 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:35.679 Your life at your church typically too. 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:39.520 Yeah, like very very locally. And by the eighteenth century, 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:43.040 late eighteenth century, this was a big, big problem. There 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:48.199 were too many bodies those disease was being spread. So 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:50.360 this led to a couple of things. I think in 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:56.880 the seventeen thirties there was an actual parliamentary commissioned study 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:01.240 about how disease from these you know, dead people everywhere 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:05.280 in Paris was hurting the city. And then it took 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:09.760 about forty years. Eventually, in seventeen seventy seven, King Louis 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:15.559 what is that sixteenth created the IGC You want to 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:16.040 pronounce that? 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:22.439 Oh yes, please? The Inspection General des Cartiers. 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:24.360 And what were they charged with? 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:28.160 So carriers is French for careers, and another word for 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:32.000 career is a path or tunnel. So this was the 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:36.480 commission overseeing minds and mind shafts in. 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:40.600 Paris, right, So basically, hey, we got this report forty 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.280 years ago that no one's acted on, so we need 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:47.240 to really start looking into this stuff. And a chief inspector, 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:50.080 can you pronounce. 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:53.480 His name, Charles excel f Guillemote. 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:59.199 He came along as the chief inspector and said, all right, 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:03.160 you know what, we're gonna shore up these minds and 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:06.640 make sure that they're not gonna keep collapsing. And also 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:08.920 we're gonna start moving bodies out of here. We had 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:11.720 a body problem, not a three body problem, we have 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:15.040 a million's body problem. Yeah, and we're gonna start moving 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:18.320 bodies out of Let's start with the oldest one, the 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:22.000 Holy Innocent Cemetery, which has been around since eleven eighty six. 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:25.040 Let's start moving things out of here and from other cemeteries. 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:27.720 Close these things down and start moving him into these 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:28.760 old mind shafts. 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:30.680 Yeah. And like you said, there was a body problem, 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:33.000 I think you kind of touched on it a second ago, 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:37.280 where there was a general sense of disease coming from 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:41.680 these putrefying bodies that were just piling up in the cemeteries. 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:45.800 But structurally speaking also so like I guess at the 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:48.400 time in France, they would bury you with a bunch 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:50.080 of other people who died at the same time in 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.640 a group pit let you decompose. After five years, they 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:55.440 would bury you up and then they would just deposit 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:58.880 your bones into ossiery. They just they were like, here's 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.080 a bunch of bones, move on to the next group 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:04.359 of people and bury them for five years. So many 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:08.600 people's bones built up over the years that neighborhoods built 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:12.880 near this. They're like sellers would collapse in and bones 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:14.920 would just come out because of the pressure put on 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.360 these huge piles of bones that were building up. So 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:20.040 there was a huge problem with it. But I also 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:26.240 read that that was a bit of like a cover story, 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:29.720 that they were really interested, that the government of Paris 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:34.079 was interested in reclaiming some really great real estate now, 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:37.720 and so they did this, whether people liked it or not. 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:42.400 And they actually went into these cemeteries and moved the 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:44.160 bones under the cover of night. 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:51.480 That's right to the tunnels and people, you're doing what, Yeah, 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:53.240 And they said, don't don't worry about it, just go 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:57.240 back to sleep. And from seventeen eighty five to seventeen 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:01.200 eighty seven, over a couple of years, they not only 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:05.640 from Holy Innocence, but all the nearby cemeteries they moved 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:11.720 these bodies. In April of seventeen eighty six, the catacombs 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:16.080 were consecrated officially that was called the Paris Ostuary at first, 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:18.160 but catacombs sounds creepier. 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.480 I guess, hey, have I been saying ossiery? 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:22.000 I think so? 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:24.560 Oh man, thank you for gently correcting me. 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:27.280 Well, I wasn't sure I was pronounced. 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:28.839 To be honest, I sounded like a six year old 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:30.000 kid trying to pronounce it. 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:35.960 So catacombs took over as the sort of, you know, 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:40.199 the go to word, and they kind of just dumped 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:42.800 him in there for a while, until in eighteen ten 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:47.240 there was a new Quary inspector who said, maybe we 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:48.320 can have a little fun with this. 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.800 Yeah, So, just to be clear, when they moved the 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:57.000 bones from the graveyard to these abandoned mine shafts, they 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:58.640 would just go up to a hole in the ground 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:03.199 and dump bone into the mine shaft and they would 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:05.360 just pile up where they fell at the bottom of 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:08.720 the mine shaft. That's how they were transferred. And like 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:12.080 you said, finally one of the inspectors, a Quorey inspector 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:17.440 named Louis Etienne Harry card Deturi. Pretty sure, I said 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:20.120 that right. Nice. He said, like you said, let's have 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.600 some fun. So he got busy with his quarry men 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:30.360 stacking bones into these now famous configurations of tibias and 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:35.800 phibias and finger bones and thigh bones and neck bones 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:39.720 and then headbones. Finally all of them with their eye 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:44.160 sockets facing out. They built walls throughout the whole, these 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:48.440 whole catacombs where that had been designated in ossiary or 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:49.800 in French and ossuary. 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.040 That's right, And I think from now to the end 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:55.640 of time, a skull should be known as a headbone. 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:59.240 And that what it Isn't that old drybone song and 0:13:59.240 --> 0:13:59.960 that what they call it? 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:00.600 Oh? 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:02.679 Is it? What connected to the headbone? That one? 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:03.679 Yeah? Don't they say that? 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:06.360 Oh I don't know, I think so, I don't remember 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:10.760 that part. That's like the part, oh well, what was 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:15.079 connected to it? I think the yeah, yeah probably and 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:17.440 the neck bone is connected to the skull. 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:25.120 Right, And then everybody just stopped singing and goes yeah yeah. 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:27.760 So, like you mentioned, there are no headstones there, so 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.160 you don't know who is who. We do know there 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:35.400 are some famouses there, like Robespierre, very famous statesman is there. 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:42.520 There's a painter named Simon Vouet. What how would you 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:42.880 say that? 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:45.680 Hey, yeah, you're right, I was gonna say, but there'd 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:46.760 be an extra te I. 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:50.280 Think, okay, and then this guy, I think we should 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:53.280 maybe do a show on at some point Charles, I 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:56.120 would say paralt as an American. But what is that Paral. 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.400 Let's just go with your I say, Ossiery. So I 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:03.520 don't know why, asking me, well. 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:05.720 You took French, I didn't. This guy was like the 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:09.520 granddaddy of the modern fairy tale. So he wrote Little 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:12.480 Red Riding Hood and Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and Pussing 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:14.760 Boots and yeah, did you know about this guy? 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.000 He put them all into a collection that he attributed 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:20.160 to Mother Goose. So I couldn't find definitively that he 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:23.400 invented Mother Goose, but he certainly he certainly made Mother 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:24.080 Goose a star. 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:27.720 You're gonna go a long way, baby, stick with me. 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:32.560 Should we take a break or you got something else? I? 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:34.840 Oh, well, we should probably say that. The reason why 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.120 there's not a lot of people that you've heard of 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.840 today because they stopped adding bones in eighteen sixty. They 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:44.520 said that's enough. Sure, this is a little nuts. Somebody 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:47.880 thought of this like almost one hundred years ago. They 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:51.320 were clearly insane. Paris went along with it. Let's just 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:54.000 pretend like it was okay, but just stop doing it 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:54.600 any further. 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:57.280 Yeah, Jim, Jim Morrison can stay where he's at. 0:15:57.520 --> 0:15:59.640 I look to see if he ever went and visited 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:01.640 the cattle combs, and I could not find that he 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:03.560 ever did. So let's just say he didn't. 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:05.600 Oh, just as a tourist. 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:11.680 Oh interesting, I just was cured diary today. 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:14.920 I went to the catacombs. I found my solace there. 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:17.120 Right, it was awesome. 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:19.760 All right, So now that break, and we're going to 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:21.560 come back and talk about all the weird stuff that's 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:23.000 happened there over the decade since. 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:48.040 So, Chuck, there's been at the catacombs a lot of 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:53.320 bone deposits, bone stacking, that kind of stuff. But that 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:55.280 I think we said at the outset that takes up 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:58.360 just a really small amount of all of the tunnels 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:02.440 that are under that are under Paris. They've done some 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:07.040 other really fascinating stuff. Dozens and dozens of different interesting, 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.879 really creative, inventive things with these tunnels, right, hundreds of 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:14.720 different things. 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:16.359 Yes, for sure. And I don't want to make you 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:18.280 feel self conscious. I was laughing at a dirty joke 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:19.120 that I couldn't sail loud. 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:20.159 Oh, I want to know. 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:23.800 I'll tell you later. 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:24.600 Oh I know. 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:26.320 Yeah. Yeah, So. 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:31.119 A lot of i mean monks used to make chartruse 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:35.359 down there. Was that the birthplace of chartreuse. Yeah, in 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:36.080 the catacombs. 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.760 Yeah. I don't remember mentioning that in our Marrow episode, 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:42.520 but we definitely talked about chartreuse. 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:45.080 Yeah for sure. So that's one thing that happened back then. 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:47.080 Mushroom farming. 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:49.760 There's been a great tradition of alcohol brewing actually over 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.640 the years, because I mean, one of the great things 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:56.760 about having an underground system like that is it's very 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:00.280 stable temperature wise. It's about sixty degrees fahrenheit always. 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:03.240 Yeah, which is about fifteen and a half degree celsius 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:05.080 for our French friends. 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:05.360 That's right. 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:07.280 And so that means you can do a lot of 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:11.920 stuff from like storing wine to storing brewer beer exactly. 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:14.159 One of the things that made it so appealing. In 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:16.919 addition to being able to keep it at like a 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:20.560 constant cave temperature, cave age to anything is pretty great. Typically, 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:26.400 this is also real estate in the heart of Paris. Yeah, 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.080 that you know, you can use some steps and go 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:31.000 up street side and all of a sudden you're right there, 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:34.200 your customers without having to pay the incredibly high price 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:37.080 of real estate in Paris top side. 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:39.120 Oh good point, it's not. 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:41.880 I've read it somewhere. 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.000 Mushroom farming was another big deal, because one thing you 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:50.080 don't need a ton of for most mushrooms is light. Sometimes, 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:52.119 you know, you want them to fruit. You may be 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:55.520 able to manipulate light or something like that, but generally 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:58.959 mushroom growing can be done in very dark places. And 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:03.239 so starting in the nineteen century, actual mushroom farming and 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:05.280 not just like I'm gonna grow a few mushrooms like 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:09.400 they were producing about a thousand tons of catacom mushrooms 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:09.720 a year. 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:13.040 Yeah. For some reason, I'm gonna have to ask you 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:16.320 never to use the word fruit and mushroom near each 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:20.400 other again. I find it troubling for some reason. Really, Yeah, 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:23.600 mushrooms fruiting is I don't like that at all. 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:25.119 That's really funny. 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:27.840 Yeah all right, but I'm serious though. 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:29.000 No, I'll never do it. 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:32.359 Okay, thank you, although you do owe me about seven 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:34.359 or eight mentions for that oysters too. 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.320 Oh that's right, I feel better now, okay, Oh yeah, 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:37.760 that's right. 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:39.960 You should tell everybody you're finally feeling good. 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:43.359 Yeah, I'm finally feeling well. It was I had some 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:45.120 fruity mushrooms and everything's fine. 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:50.959 Yeah, So let's see what else chuck Oh, I was 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.879 totally joking when I said there's been hundreds of creative uses. 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:56.200 There's been basically three, and two of them are technically 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:58.240 the same, which is brewing alcohol. 0:19:58.880 --> 0:19:59.720 At mushroom farming. 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:05.760 And what's third, brewing alcohol and brewing alcohol depending on 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:08.760 which kind of alcohol, beer or scharchers. That's it. 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:10.720 It's also been a good Heidi spot over the years, 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:13.280 depending on what's going on with the government. During the 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:18.080 French Revolution, revolutionaries hit out down there and were chased 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:20.760 down there. Sure, there was an alt right group in 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:23.439 the thirties called how would you pronounce that? 0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:26.840 Joshchaoul Lac of Ghoul. 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:30.679 They not only hid down there, but would use it 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:33.119 as a way to get around and potentially break into 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:36.440 government buildings I guess from the bottom. 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:39.800 Yeah. Until the fifties, and in some cases even decades 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:43.320 after that, there were a lot of buildings in Paris 0:20:43.760 --> 0:20:47.920 who had doors, sometimes forgotten doors in their cellars or 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:52.400 basements that led directly to the catacombs or the underground 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:53.600 tunnels in Paris. 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:54.880 Yeah, pretty cool. 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:56.479 So it was kind of easy to get down there 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:59.520 for a very long time. It's actually really recent that 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:04.200 it's now very hard to get into the off limits parts. 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:08.119 But as we'll see, that doesn't actually deter anybody. 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:11.600 No, of course not during World War Two. Obviously there's 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:15.840